Zimbabwe: EU Travel Ban

Lord Elton: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How many persons connected with the Government of Zimbabwe and subject to exclusion from the European Union under its sanctions policy have been admitted to the European Union; on what occasions; and, in each instance, under what provisions of that policy and for how long.

Baroness Amos: To the best of our knowledge, five Zimbabweans on the EU travel ban list have travelled to the EU since the targeted sanctions were imposed on 18 February 2002. Robert Mugabe, Stan Mudenge and Joseph Made visited Rome to attend World Food Summit meetings between 10 and 13 June. Augustine Chihuri, Police Commissioner, travelled to France on three occasions to attend meetings of the Interpol Executive Committee on 14–16 May, 18–20 June and 27 August. Samuel Mumbengegwi, Trade and Industry Minister, visited Belgium from 22–29 September to attend trade talks between the EU and the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific group of countries. In all cases, the EU country concerned consulted EU partners before issuing visas.
	The EU's Common Position 2002/145/CFSP imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe specifically allows member states to grant exemptions where travel is justified on grounds of attending meetings of international bodies. In all these cases, the EU country in question had a legal obligation to grant visas. In doing so, they attached maximum restrictions, ensuring that the visas were for a limited time and restricted to the host country of the meeting concerned.

Guatemala and Belize

Baroness Massey of Darwen: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What progress has been made to resolve the territorial dispute between Guatemala and Belize.

Baroness Amos: The Organization of American States (OAS) concluded its two-year process to help the governments of Guatemala and Belize settle their territorial dispute on 30 September. Detailed proposals drawn up by independent facilitators appointed by both governments were presented to the governments on 16 September and provide the basis for a fair and honourable settlement to this long-standing dispute. We hope both governments will now seize this historic opportunity.
	The facilitators have recommended some adjustment to the land border and proposed new maritime limits giving Guatemala an economic exclusion zone and continental shelf in the Gulf of Honduras of some 2,000 square nautical miles. The governments of Belize and Honduras have each agreed to contribute 1,000 square nautical miles to this zone.
	The facilitators have also recommended the establishment of a tri-national ecological park covering coastal, insular and maritime areas of Belize, Guatemala and Honduras and a substantial development trust fund.
	Details can be found on the Belize Government's website www.belize.gov.bz/.
	At a ceremony in Washington on 30 September marking the end of the facilitation process, Dr MacShane spoke of the UK's full support for the OAS process. He welcomed the proposals highlighting the potential for investment and economic growth that will result if the referendums that are now due to be held simultaneously in both countries are successful.
	Her Majesty's Government believe that the facilitators have worked patiently and meticulously to produce proposals that are fair and honourable to the governments of Guatemala and Belize. They represent the best chance yet of settling the dispute. Settlement would also have a global significance, demonstrating that with good will and determination even the most intractable problems can be resolved by negotiation. A settlement would open a new chapter of peace and harmony between the two countries and reduce the risk of potential conflict along the border.
	We urge the governments and civil society of both countries to enter into constructive debate on what a settlement would mean to their populace before putting the proposals to referendums.

CAFCASS Annual Report

Baroness Hayman: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	When they intend to publish the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service's annual report 2001–02.

Lord Irvine of Lairg: The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) has published its annual report and accounts 2001–02 today. Copies of the annual report and accounts 2001–02 have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. Further copies may be obtained from the Stationery Office.

Freedom of Information Act 2000, Section 77

Lord Christopher: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they have reached a decision on the date on which Section 77 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 will be brought into force.

Lord Irvine of Lairg: The Government have considered very carefully the arguments put forward for the early implementation of this section, which makes it an offence for a person to destroy or alter a record requested under either the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Data Protection Act 1998. The Government have decided to retain the original date for implementation of this section—1 January 2005.
	The reason for this decision is that the policy intention behind the creation of the offence was that greater deterrence was needed to prevent the destruction of paper records, to which the Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act will apply from 1 January 2005, than was needed for computerised or structured records, to which the Data Protection Act currently applies. It is far easier to conceal the destruction of paper records than of computerised records as in the latter case an audit trail is available. There is no evidence to suggest that the existing provisions in the Data Protection Act are defective in preventing the wrongful destruction of records. The Government do not believe that it would be right to create a new offence where there is no mischief to be addressed. Accordingly, the Government have decided to retain the 1 January 2005 implementation date for Section 77.

National Insurance Contributions

Lord Butler of Brockwell: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What is the yield from employers' national insurance contributions in respect of employees over state pension age.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The Government Actuary's Department estimates that employers' national insurance contributions relating to employees over state pension age amount to around £300 million a year.

First World War Debt

Lord Laird: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they consider that the debt owed to the United States by the United Kingdom from the First World War is still active and open to be collected; and what is the current size of that debt in sterling.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: As stated in my Answers to the noble Lord on 17 July (WA 159) and 30 July (WA 161), no satisfactory agreement was reached by the countries concerned on the repayment of First World War debt following the one-year moratorium in 1931. Neither the debt owed to the United States by the United Kingdom nor the larger debts owed by other countries to the United Kingdom have been serviced since 1934, nor have they been written off.
	At the time the last repayment was made the oustanding principal owed to the United States by the United Kingdom was $4.368 billion, which at 1934 exchange rates was around £866 million. At current exchange rates the principal outstanding would equate to around £2.820 billion.

Theatres and Cinemas: Safety Inspections

Lord Fearn: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How often theatres and cinemas are inspected for safety and fire precautions.

Baroness Blackstone: During 2001–02, 4,100 inspections of theatres and 1,641 inspections of cinemas were undertaken by local authority fire safety officers. In addition, 249 and 218 inspections (respectively) were carried out by operational fire brigade staff. The Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1998 allocate theatres and cinemas to local authorities for wider health and safety inspection and enforcement purposes but the figures requested are not held centrally.

Foreign Language Capability

Lord Judd: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What is their policy towards the foreign language speaking ability of the British people as a global asset.

Baroness Ashton of Upholland: We are planning to publish our national languages strategy towards the end of November this year. It will set out our agenda for the next decade in support of the transformation of our nation's capability in languages.
	Language skills improve an individual's employment prospects and a company's economic competitiveness. Such skills help our people to get better and more interesting jobs and our country to prosper in the global economy.

Foreign Language Capability

Lord Williams of Elvel: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	On what date the proposed strategy for foreign language teaching will be published; whether it will be in the form of a White Paper; and, if not, in what form it will be published.

Baroness Ashton of Upholland: We are planning to publish the national languages strategy towards the end of November this year. We are currently finalising the details for publication and expect to be in a position to confirm the date very soon. The strategy will not be published in the form of a White Paper or other command paper. It will be in the form of a policy paper setting out our agenda for the next decade in support of the tranformation of our nation's capability in languages.
	Our Language Learning document, published in February this year, set out the department's aspirations for language learning and teaching. It also set out the areas in which we were developing proposals and asked key stakeholders to contribute their views. The national languages strategy has been informed by that process and by the work of the Languages National Steering Group.

UN Committee on Rights of the Child

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What is their response to the recent comments and recommendations by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child regarding the need for further measures by the United Kingdom to comply with the obligations imposed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Baroness Ashton of Upholland: The Government are under no formal obligation from the UN to respond to the report, but lead departments across Whitehall, together with the devolved administrations, are considering how to take the committee's comments into account. Although there are areas where we expect to take a different view from the committee over our obligations under the convention, we will consider its recommendations in developing our overarching strategy for children and young people, a development which the UN committee welcomed. Copies of the UN committee's report have been placed in both Libraries.

OSCE: UK Delegation

Baroness Gould of Potternewton: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether there are any changes in the composition of the United Kingdom Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation on Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Lord Williams of Mostyn: The honourable Member for Congleton (Mrs Winterton) replaces the honourable Member for Mid Sussex (Mr Soames) as a full member of the delegation.

Traffic Congestion

Lord Roberts of Conwy: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they agree with the findings of recent research carried out by Trafficmaster, the traffic monitoring company, that congestion has more than doubled on several key sections of the motorway network in the last five years.

Lord Macdonald of Tradeston: A preliminary investigation by the Highways Agency suggests that the results are statistically unrepresentative of underlying congestion trends. That is because it appears that the results have been skewed by short-term effects such as roadworks.
	The department's 2001 Trunk Road Speeds Survey shows that average speeds were 2.6 mph faster in 2001 in the morning peak period when compared to the equivalent speed in the 1998 survey. In the evening peak, they were 2.2 mph faster. This suggests that overall across trunk troads and motorways congestion has been falling, not rising.

Traffic Congestion

Lord Roberts of Conwy: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What steps they propose to take to relieve congestion on the United Kingdom motorway network; and whether they will list schemes designed for this purpose by title and proposed dates of commencement and completion.

Lord Macdonald of Tradeston: There are currently five schemes in the Highways Agency's targeted programme of improvements designed to address problems of congestion on the motorway network. The Highways Agency is also developing a programme of lower cost schemes to address local problems. I have arranged for a list of these schemes to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses with an indication of the expected timescales for delivery.
	Further schemes may be added to the targeted programme of improvements which will address congestion on the motorway network in the light of recommendations from the ongoing programme of multi-modal studies. These studies were commissioned in order to look at some of the most serious congestion problems on the strategic road network and to identify the contribution that all transport modes might make to providing sustainable solutions. The Highways Agency has been closely involved in the studies and the Government agreed last year that it could carry out parallel appraisal and validation work on any road schemes likely to be recommended by the studies. This should reduce the time required for schemes to enter the TPI once the Secretary of State has announced his conclusions on each of the study findings.
	The multi-modal study programme is now well advanced. The studies report initially to the appropriate regional planning body. The Secretary of State for Transport will consider study recommendations in the light of their advice. I am also arranging for a list of the studies to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Houses of Parliament: Sitting Hours

Lord Lipsey: asked the Chairman of Committees:
	For how many hours (a) the House of Lords; and (b) the House of Commons have sat in the 2001–02 Session.

Lord Tordoff: In the 2001–02 Session, up to and including 22 October 2002, the House of Lords has sat for 1,318 hours and 14 minutes, and the House of Commons has sat for 1,354 hours and 43 minutes.